


Touching The Light

by Omorka



Category: Ghostbusters (1984 1989)
Genre: Dubious Consent, F/M, M/M, Possession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-19
Updated: 2010-04-19
Packaged: 2017-10-09 00:56:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/81280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omorka/pseuds/Omorka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are no ways to stop the Destructor's coming, but there are certainly ways to speed it up.  Zuul decides there are better strategic choices for a host body than Dana.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Touching The Light

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt ""Ghostbusters, Zuul decided Peter was a better (strategy-wise, anyway) host, during the battle in the first movie. Things get worse from there," by Calliope's Pen.

"Do you want this body?" she asked, her eyes heavy-lidded and flashing.

"Is this a trick question?" Peter asked, before she yanked him onto the bed and smothered his mouth with a kiss. Her skin was hot, feverishly so. He tried to pull away; something at the base of his spine objected, and he ended up merely pushing his head back enough to breathe.

"I want you inside me," she gasped, and for a moment he wasn't sure whether that was Dana or Zuul speaking. He wanted to believe it was Dana; it would make things so much simpler . . . .

"It'd be a little crowded," he joked, trying to get away from her. It seemed as if she had too many arms. "Sounds like you've got at least two - " He was cut off by her mouth on his again. He tried to roll off the bed, and failed; her grip on his shoulders was an iron trap, and he was caught tight.

"Hush, subcreature," she whispered, and suddenly she was on top of him. Her hands pinned him to the bed, an unearthly strength in each finger; he couldn't move, and he was less and less sure he wanted to. The room was warm; a sickly-sweet scent, like incense, battered his senses. "You will help me prepare for the Keymaster," she insisted, in a voice like honey mixed with gravel. "Remove this garment."

"Uh, mine? Or yours?" Peter swallowed as his body betrayed him. Apparently his guidelines were even more flexible than he thought. His conscience warned him, (in Ray's voice, no less) that this was a bad idea - then blood-red light bored into his eyes, and he saw nothing but her, her skin, her shoulders, her swaying hips. Another joke died on his tongue as his mind clouded over.

"Both." She lifted one hand from his shoulder and ran it down his chest, shredding his vest and plucking every button from his shirt. Her nail bit into the skin on his stomach, and he trembled. Slowly, he reached for her dress, hunting for a button or a zipper. She writhed, leaned down, and bit; his hands flexed at the sudden pain and the simultaneous surge of lust, and he tore the flimsy fabric away from her body like so much tissue paper. He wasn't surprised that she was wearing nothing underneath, but every thought seemed to be coming through water. He groaned and clutched at her.

She growled, howled, hissed - everything but human speech poured from her mouth in a churning stream. She clawed his pants off with her feet, and impaled herself on him with a yowl that cracked the glass in her windows. A red haze flooded his mind, and any concerns other than her, her body, or the fire in his groin fled him.

The mating of Zuul, Gatekeeper of Gozer, with the fleshling was blessedly short. Their conjoined bodies jerked in unison once, twice, and collapsed in a tangle of limbs and sweat, as the room shuddered in sympathy. The wallpaper singed, crackled, and peeled slowly away from the sheetrock, ectoplasm oozing down the strands. The two bodies on the bed panted together, eyes closed. Slowly, Dana's breathing slowed to something resembling sleep.

Peter rolled her off and stood, naked, facing the window. His eyes flickered open, and garnet light glimmered beneath his lids. "Soon comes the sign," Zuul whispered to the city.

\---

Dana struggled to consciousness through a thick smog. She clung to a few fleeting images: that awful _thing_ in her kitchen, the red dress Andre had bought for her, Peter framed in the doorway . . .

She forced her eyes open. She was face-down on her own bed, naked, and the room was a wreck, oozing slime and soot. Something smelled like incense, or maybe burning resin; the sheets were scorched. The shredded remains of Peter's clothes and the red dress had been kicked to the foot of the bed.

_Oh, God, did we have sex?_ she thought. Then, _No, it wasn't me, it was Zuul._ Her stomach lurched. _It used me._ She grabbed at the sheets; suddenly, being nude felt unsafe, even in her own apartment. _And him._ She couldn't help the flash of anger at Peter - surely someone with any training in the supernatural would know better than to let someone in her condition seduce them? But for all she knew, it had used some sort of mind control on him, too. She slid off the bed and grabbed at the first things that came to hand in the closet - an old, oversized sweatshirt with a cartoon cat printed across the front, and a pair of teal leggings.

She felt a little better dressed, as if the clothing offered her some sort of armor. Carefully, she peered around the doorframe.

Peter was outlined against the lights of the city, standing in front of the living room window with his arms akimbo. She had been wrong about the dress; that remnant on her bed must just have been the skirt. Venkman was wearing the top like a shirt, the ragged ends tied at his waist, and he'd helped himself to a pair of black knit pants that were loose on her and oddly tight on him. He was barefooot. It would have looked funny, except that she guessed what his choosing those clothes meant.

And she was going to have to slip past the thing that had been possessing her, that had - had it raped her? She wasn't sure if that counted, but she'd been violated, body and soul; the name wasn't important. Whatever you called it, she was going to have to get past her assailant to get out.

As quietly as she could, she slipped on a pair of jogging shoes and tiptoed towards the door. His head turned as she eased it open, just enough for her to see the flash of red in his eyes, but he didn't make a move towards her - he just stared, blankly. She couldn't tell if it - he? she? Zuul had _felt_ female, somehow - even recognized her.

She darted through and slammed the door behind her, running for the elevators. No footsteps sounded behind her.

\---

"What are we going to do with him?" Janine watched the little man who said he was the Keymaster disassemble Ray's alarm clock.

"Keep him here until the rest of the team gets back. Ray and Peter are the possession experts." Egon looked grim; it was almost three in the morning, and he'd hoped Ray and Winston would have been back long before now. Peter had probably gotten lucky; while he hadn't stated an intention to stay overnight at Ms. Barrett's apartment, it was consistent with his previous behavior. Egon dug in the spare parts bin for something and came up with an electronic game with flashing lights. "Here. See if you can teach him to play that."

Janine blinked as she took it from him. "What are you going to do?"

Whatever his intended answer, it was cut off by a sudden pounding on the door downstairs. Egon turned towards the stairs, but Janine stopped him with an upraised hand. "I'll get it. I'm the receptionist, after all." She handed him the game back and ran down to the first floor.

She opened the door a crack, the chain still on. "Ghostbusters, we're closed."

"Ms. Melnitz? Please let me in, I'm a client." Dana had on heavy make-up, just as heavily smeared, and her hair looked like she'd been standing in a wind tunnel. She was lightly dressed, without a coat or even a jacket, despite the chill; she was shivering.

"Ms. Barrett?" Janine unlatched the chain and threw the small door open. "What happened? Are you all right?"

"No, honestly, I'm not, and I think Dr. Venkman is even worse off. I need to talk to Dr. Spengler and Dr. Stantz." Dana stepped over the threshold carefully. She wasn't wearing any socks, either, and while normally Janine tried not to criticize other women's fashion choices, she suspected there was a reason.

"He didn't try to - " Janine stopped. She wasn't even sure what she was suggesting, although the images in her head horrified her in a vague way.

"I'm not sure. I'll explain in a minute," Dana begged. "Please, are they here?"

"Egon's here. Ray and Winston aren't back from the job at the fort yet." Janine locked back up and offered Ms. Barrett a hand. "He's upstairs. Do you need anything?"

Dana shivered. "Coffee and a throw blanket would be lovely if you have them."

"I don't know about the blanket, but coffee I can do." Janine escorted her back to the third floor, calling upwards, "Egon, we have a visitor. I think we might have another problem."

"Who is - oh, Ms. Barrett." Egon regarded her with only a flicker of surprise; Janine marked the slight widening of his eyes that meant his train of thought had derailed. It was getting easier to read him over time; Peter had given her a couple of tips.

Suddenly Louis flew over the couch. "You're here! The Gatekeeper!" He landed in front of Dana in something between a crouch and a bow; Dana stumbled and took a step back. Louis looked up, sniffing, then drew back, showing his teeth. "You _were_ . . . "

"What are you talking about?" Janine demanded, picking up the can of real coffee. Louis had spilled the instant coffee all over the floor an hour and a half ago.

Egon fumbled for the PKE meter and leveled it at Dana. "You're showing elevated levels of psychokinetic residue." He swung it towards Louis. "Not the same order of magnitude as what he's displaying, but the readings have a similar pattern."

"He's right." Dana swallowed; her throat was strangely dry. "I was - I think I was possessed by Zuul."

"You were the vessel of the Gatekeeper," Louis confirmed, circling her slowly. "But she has left you for another." He stood up, eyes flaring, and she saw the crimson glint in his pupils. "Where is she now?" he breathed reverently.

Dana glanced at Egon, who scowled. "I'm not sure telling him that is a good idea," he said, watching Louis carefully for his reaction.

Dana took a step towards her neighbor. "You're . . . Vinz Clorto, right?" She remembered the name echoing in her head. Had that been before Peter arrived, or after? "The Keymaster."

"That's right," Louis answered, his anger suddenly replaced by a cheerful, if still somewhat disturbing, grin. "You were waiting for me."

The sick feeling in Dana's stomach returned. If the choice had been between Louis or Peter, she guessed Peter was the better option, but still . . . . "Dr. Spengler, may I talk with you privately?" she asked.

"Certainly." Egon handed the game to Louis again. "Here, try matching the patterns on this. It's a human intelligence test."

Louis pressed a button and nearly dropped it as it beeped at him. "Okay," he said, bewildered.

Janine hefted the coffee can again. "I'm going to make a pot down on the second floor. I'll watch the stairs for him."

"All right." Egon stepped through the door into the lab, gesturing for Dana to follow. "Where's Peter?"

"He's back at my apartment." Dana looked at the floor. It badly needed sweeping. "I was - Zuul possessed me, and then seduced Peter." Egon stared at her over his glasses, eyes wide, but said nothing. She continued, "I guess she decided she could use him more than me, so she - took him over. I tried to sneak out; I think he saw me, but Zuul didn't need me anymore so he didn't care. Either that, or he convinced her to let me go."

Egon ran a hand down his jaw. "This is bad. I need Ray here immediately." He glanced at the door, then met Dana's eyes; suddenly, he looked very tired. "I'm not sure I can perform an exorcism, and none of the equipment we currently have that would extract a spirit can be safely used on a human body. I'm certain I can't adequately perform two, alone."

"You're not alone," Dana blurted. "You have Ms. Melnitz here, and me." Suddenly, she felt responsible for Peter's current condition. She didn't remember much of what it had felt like to actually have Zuul in her head, but when it had first lunged for her and become insubstantial, she'd been terrified beyond anything she'd ever been scared by in her life. It must be equally horrible for him, and it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't agreed to see him. She shook her head; Dr. Venkman was a responsible adult, If anything, he was more qualified to fight off a possession than she was.

"True, but you both have significantly less training than we do," Egon replied. "I need to research this. Can you keep Vinz entertained and in one place while I try to find some of Ray's books?"

"I'll try," she said, as Egon reached for the door. Louis was perched on an arm of the sofa, poking at the yellow button on the game panel. She sat down carefully on the other end of the couch.

"Gozer will undoubtedly look with favor on you," Louis said, not taking his eyes off the game. "You were a fleshbag host to one of his two favored servants. He might allow you to live, if you swear to serve him for the rest of your days."

"I'll think about it," she said carefully, as sparks danced across the plastic surface under his fingers.

\---

The banging on the door at 6 am didn't wake anyone up; no one in the firehouse had slept. Janine managed to navigate the stairs without stumbling, and grumbled that she should have just taken the pole as she opened the deadbolt.

Walter Peck marched in, followed by a motley group of police, technicians, and bureaucrats. He pushed past her without speaking and headed straight for Venkman's office.

She chased after him, caught between the need to let Egon know they were being invaded and some impulse to protect her territory. "Wait, you can't - "

Peck wheeled around. "Where's Venkman?"

"I don't know." Strictly speaking, it wasn't a lie; there was no way of knowing whether he'd stayed in Dana's apartment or not. "What are you doing? I watch television; I know you can't come in here without a writ or a warrant or something."

He thrust a stack of papers at her. "Take your pick. Who's in charge here, then?"

She looked at the top one; the words _Cease And Desist Order_ jumped out at her. "That'd be Dr. Spengler, but he's busy - "

"I'm right here," Egon called from the second floor. He mumbled something to someone - probably Dana - and started descending the stairs. "I'm Dr. Egon Spengler. Can I help you?"

Peck sniffed, as if he expected to smell smoke. "So what are _you_ a doctor of?"

"Physics and paranormal studies." Egon stepped carefully off the bottom stair into the midst of the small crowd; the Con Ed technician looked at the bit of circuit board in his pocket and blanched. "I'm guessing you spoke with Dr. Venkman previously?"

"Yes." Peck seemed suddenly nervous; Janine wondered how often he ran into someone he had to look up to speak with. "I have a cease and desist order requiring that you stop all activities on these premises until the environmental impact of your operation can be fully determined."

"That's not possible," Egon stated flatly. "The equipment we have here is sensitive and, more importantly, absolutely mission-critical. We're in the middle of a cross-dimensional rip of potentially epic proportions."

Peck looked like he'd understood none of that. He regained a fragment of his former swagger. "We believe that you are storing hazardous, potentially mind-altering chemicals in this building."

"You're welcome to search," Egon offered. "Just try not to touch anything."

There was a crash from the floor above them; Louis collided with the pole, then slid down as if nothing had happened. "Greetings, subcreatures," he murmured at two of the cops, and ambled over to the coffeepot, which he picked up and drained, spilling steaming liquid down his chin. The briefcased bureaucrat stepped back and goggled at Louis before glancing furtively at Peck.

Peck leaned over and looked Louis dead in the eyes. "And who are you?"

"I am Vinz Clorto, Keymaster of Gozer." Louis tilted his head back and snuffled at the air. "But none of you are the Gatekeeper. I would suggest all you fleshlings make your peace with this plane; Gozer is coming."

"Louis, you need to get back in - oh," Dana exclaimed, darting halfway down the stairs and stopping. The crowd looked up at her, several of them grateful for the distraction. She stepped back, suddenly anxious under that many male eyes.

Peck straightened up. "You expect me to believe this man isn't chemically altered?"

"He's had way, way too much coffee," Janine agreed, slipping her arm around Louis's elbow. "And possibly some of the bourbon. Let's get you back upstairs, okay, Mr. Tully?"

"Tully's just the fleshbag," he protested, but he allowed himself to be led back up the stairs; Janine and Dana escorted him off.

"Let's start up there," Peck decided, and thundered up the stairs after them. Egon followed, trailing Peck's entourage in his wake.

\---

The eerie wail of Ecto-1's siren cut off suddenly. "What are all these?" Ray grumbled, glaring at the haphazardly parked menagerie of vehicles - an EPA van, an unmarked white van, two police cars, and a Con Ed truck - blocking the firehouse door.

"I dunno. Wasn't there someone from the EPA here a few weeks ago?" Winston slid Ecto around the unmarked van and parked on the sidewalk.

The state of things inside was hardly less crowded. That same EPA guy, bearded and narrow-eyed, was shuffling through the papers on Peter's desk. A cop leaned against the filing cabinets while Janine glared at them both over the tops of her glasses, arms folded. The Con Ed guy was examining the guts of a ghost trap that Egon had disassembled on Janine's desk. Another cop was slumped in a chair, taking a nap. Over by the stairs, some stiff in a gray suit was having a conversation with Dana Barrett and a short guy who looked like he'd had a rough night.

"I'm telling you," Janine shouted past the cop, "none of the purchase orders are over there. They're all in cabinet 3A."

"Why would you keep receipts for hazardous gases in the same place as your orders for radio parts?" Peck snarled back, yanking a drawer out of the desk and then jumping back like he'd been bitten. Winston tried to remember if Peter still kept a Playboy in there.

"What's going on?" Ray asked in Egon's direction.

"Oh, good, Ray, you're back." Egon adjusted his glasses and left the Con Ed tech to the trap. "We have a situation. Peter's apparently been possessed by Zuul."

Ray's "Wow, that's great!" was swamped by Winston's "What?" Ray caught himself. "I mean, how do you know, and where is he?"

"That's exactly what I want to know!" Peck announced, leaving the wreckage of the desk to interrupt their conversation.

Egon glanced at Peck with a look reserved for fungicidal bacteria and undergraduates who plagiarize. "Also, we're being inspected by the EPA. Again."

"Sure. You need any help, want me to show you around, let me know." Ray smiled at Peck and stuck out a hand; Peck took it purely by reflex. Shaking hands once, firmly, Ray turned back to Egon and dropped Peck from his radar. "Seriously, Zuul nabbed Peter?"

"Zuul is waiting for the Sign," intoned Vinz. "So am I."

Ray turned around. "Oh, hi. And you are - ?"

"He's Louis Tully, my neighbor across the hall," Dana interjected. "But right now he thinks he's someone called Vinz Clorto."

"The Keymaster of Gozer," agreed Vinz. He was no longer moving with Louis's short, hurried steps; his shoulders and arms were loose, and his stance slightly hunched.

"Uh oh," Ray murmured softly. Egon nodded. Winston frowned, and asked "So what does that mean?"

"It means," Egon said very carefully, "that Peter and Mr. Tully are now the last two pieces in the puzzle to blow open the Big Twinkie."

Winston got it, despite the mixed metaphor. Peck didn't. "Are you talking in code?" he demanded, as Janine rolled her eyes behind his back.

"If you're concerned about hazardous materials related to ectoplasmic and psychokinetic residues potentially contaminating the air and water supplies of the boroughs," Ray said, "then there's a site you should be far more concerned with than our place of business."

A flash of eagerness dashed across Peck's face, followed by deep suspicion. "And that would be . . . ?"

"55 Central Park West," Dana answered in as calm a voice as she could muster. "It's where this all started. It's where I live."

"And him," Ray noted, pointing at Vinz, who was now climbing back up the firepole.

Peck considered this new information, fingers steepled. Finally, he turned to the cops. "I need the rest of you to stay here," he announced. "We'll be coming back and dealing with these . . . so-called 'Ghostbusters' later." He jerked his chin at Vinz. "Take me where that happened to him."

\---

Zuul pressed the slick fabric against the subcreature's skin. She liked the feel; the garment had been the only thing like a proper ritual robe in the wardrobe, but she was enjoying the texture of the fabric itself.

The new fleshling had stopped resisting. The first one hadn't put up much of a fight; not much fun at all. This one had writhed inside for a long time. That suited her well; the more they fought, the more of them she saw. This one's fears were clear, as were his hopes.

They would come, the other three. If they came before the sign, that might be a problem.

Zuul tested the female fleshling's kitchen knife against this body's finger. Dull; it barely drew blood. It would have to do.

\---

The sky over Shandor's masterpiece was so dark it was nearly purple; a slow whirlpool of clouds obscured the building's crown. The street, normally busy, was half-deserted.

Ecto-1 pulled up without its sirens, disgorging Winston, Egon, Dana, and Vinz. The EPA van parked behind it in the fire zone; the driver unfolded a newspaper as Peck and Ray disembarked from the side door.

Winston opened up the back. "I'm guessing we're gearing up for this one."

Peck eyed the proton packs with distaste. "Do you really think your Laser Zeppelin rejects will fool me?"

"No, but they might be able to prevent Zuul or Vinz from getting to you," Egon noted cooly. His face was slightly less calm as he turned to Ray. "What probability do you think a standard exorcism has of freeing Peter?"

Ray sighed as a worried crease pinched his forehead. "Less than fifteen percent. We don't even know what language to start in."

"Vinz doesn't seem to have any problem with the Queen's English," Winston pointed out as he buckled his straps.

"True," Ray agreed, "but that doesn't mean that a command in English will affect him."

"Perhaps we could confuse Zuul into thinking one of us was Shandor," Egon mused, staring up at the gathering storm.

Ray turned to Dana. "Look, I know you're worried about Peter, too, and it is your apartment and all, but - I'm not sure it's safe to let Vinz and Zuul near each other just yet." His eyes flicked to Vinz, who was in immediate danger of walking out into the street; Winston grabbed his arm and yanked him back.

"Okay." Dana felt simultaneously flustered and relieved; she wasn't sure she wanted to face Peter - no, Zuul - yet, herself. Something rolled in her stomach, a memory of pressure, of gravity, of drowning. "We'll wait in the lobby until one of you calls down for us, I guess." Was that what Louis was still going through?

Ray hefted the remaining pack from the equipment rack. "I don't know if it'll actually help, but if anything else shows up - anything like the hands that grabbed you before - try zapping them. I've set it to low power, so it shouldn't do too much damage to the lobby." He handed her the miniature accelerator; she accepted it gingerly, slipping her arms into the straps.

She lowered her head. "Let me know when Peter needs it back, and I'll bring it right up."

Ray let out a breath she hadn't realized he was holding. "Thanks," he said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "We'll get him back, I promise."

"I'm sure you will," she reassured him, hoping the words didn't sound hollow.

"How long are you going to lollygag?" Peck demanded from in front of the door. He snapped open his briefcase and removed a sheet of paper, brandishing it in the doorman's face. "I'm from the EPA. We're investigating the air quality here."

"It was fine until a couple of days ago," the doorman noted, letting him in. "Hi, Dana. Good morning, Mr. Tully."

"You will perish in a hail of fire before nightfall," Vinz replied in the same cheerful tone, before leaping over a chair and perching on the rim of a large terra-cotta vase. The potted palm wobbled alarmingly, but didn't topple.

"He's had a little too much to drink," Dana explained, chasing after him. The three Ghostbusters followed after her, nodding to the doorman as they passed. He eyed them cautiously, but said nothing.

"What floor?" Peck barked, coming to a halt in front of the elevators.

"Twenty-two," Dana answered, trying to tug Vinz down from the counter he was climbing on. Peck stabbed the 'up' button as Ray and Winston exchanged a nervous glance behind him.

\---

The door to Dana's apartment fell off its hinges and toppled to the floor. Peck jumped back, startled, and nearly dropped his court order; Winston nudged him aside and stepped in, Ray and Egon flanking him.

The apartment was filled with slime and soot, as if it had been on fire and then extinguished with buckets of ectoplasm. The lights that hadn't shattered were off, and the overcast outside lit the interior only dimly. The silhouette in front of the corner window shifted as they entered, glancing back over its shoulder at them for only a moment before turning and staring out at the skyline again.

"Peter!" Ray blurted, taking several hurried steps across the ruined carpet. "Peter, say something."

"There is no Peter," said the figure at the window. "Only Zuul." He smiled, slowly, seductively, but not for Ray; his eyes were fixed at a point somewhere on the horizon.

Ray started to break into a run; he stopped short, braced against what remained of the sofa, at the glint of sharp metal in Peter's hand as the knife suddenly turned towards him. "Oh, Peter, you wouldn't," Ray whimpered, but the figure at the window didn't answer.

Egon glanced back and forth between Peter and his PKE meter. "He's definitely possessed, Ray. No human being could produce readings like this."

"So what do we do about it?" Winston turned to Egon, eyes wide. "You said we couldn't zap him out of it."

"Venkman!" Peck shouted abruptly, nearly startling Egon into dropping the meter. "You can't brush me off that easily." He marched into the room, head high, then stopped abruptly as his expression froze. His shoes made soft sucking noises as he lifted them, one at a time, from the slime-soaked carpet; he looked like he'd just stepped in roadkill.

"Don't shout, subcreature," Peter's body said, still not bothering to turn around.

"What did you do to this place?" Peck said, his voice wavering slightly. He looked around, as if he were trying to find a patch of carpet he could stand on without squishing.

Peter finally looked back into the room, and the deep garnet glow in his eyes was unmistakable. "It is prepared for the coming of Gozer," he said hollowly. The chef's knife dangled awkwardly from one hand, half-forgotten.

"Not a great company look, if you ask me," mumbled Winston as Peck shuffled to the side of the room, watching his shoes.

\---

Vinz had finally come down from the counter and wandered into the stairwell. Dana placed herself on the first step. "Louis," she said, in as calm a voice as she could muster, "we're staying here to wait for them."

"Waiting for Gozer," Vinz agreed. He jumped and grabbed one of the spindles of the banister, pulling himself up slowly.

"No, Louis, stay on the first floor." She debated whether to try to pull him back down.

He let go and dropped to the floor, landing in a crouch. "Up there. But not until the sign." He looked up. "Soon. The sign will come soon. Gozer is waiting."

Dana leaned on the railing. "Louis, look at me." It was hard to think of him as Vinz, when she was looking at his face; he still _looked_ like Louis. But he moved like something else, something with longer arms and shorter legs - not Louis, sure, but not anyone. Not human.

"Vinz." He stood up straight, shoulders back, head tilted. "Louis is gone." He smiled, the same smile Louis got when she happened to open her apartment door when he was in the hallway. It wasn't directed at her; he barely saw her. She shivered.

"Soon," he whispered, and looked straight up.

"Sure, soon. But for right now, we're staying here," she said, trying to sound soothing.

He didn't answer. Eyes still fixed somewhere above them, he held out both arms, cruciform. A breeze from nowhere stirred the air in the stairwell gently, ruffling his hair; his eyes gleamed yellow. Slowly, he began to rise straight up, his feet kicking slightly as he left the floor. He rotated slightly as he rose gently upward; the smile on his face was ecstatic, maniacal.

She found her voice after a second's fumbling. "Louis, stop it!" she shouted, her feet frozen in place by shock. If he heard her, he gave no sign; he continued his leisurely levitation. As he passed the third floor, she cursed under her breath and ran back to the elevators.

\---

Peck was hiding behind the bedroom door, which at least kept him out of the way. Ray removed a small glass vial from one of his pockets and edged closer to Zuul; Winston shifted to cover him. Not that he was sure what he was going to do if that thing in Peter's body tried to attack Ray. Peter was the one who signed his paychecks, and he was pretty sure that Ray wouldn't want him to do anything that might damage Peter's body, even if Venkman wasn't home at the time.

"It's okay, Peter," Ray said in a voice that was probably supposed to be soothing. "It's going to be all right. Just hold on."

Zuul tilted his head. "Subcreature, why do you persist in calling me by the flesh-suit's name?" He barely looked in Ray's direction, but the knife twitched alarmingly. "Come no closer."

Ray darted forward and flung the contents of the bottle at Zuul. The holy water hissed and evaporated as it hit Peter's skin; Zuul glanced down, as if he were faintly disappointed, then returned to staring at the horizon, the knife still dangling loosely in his grasp.

Ray gulped and rejoined Egon. "Well, that wasn't a success," he mumbled, forehead creasing in worry. "Neither the Latin Rite nor the Greek Rite exorcisms seem to be working on him, holy water's a bust, and I can't drum well enough to do a voodoo exorcism. What now?"

Egon opened his mouth to explain something, but he was cut off by a voice from the hall. "Louis, no, this isn't a good idea," Dana called. "Let's go back down to the lobby and talk this over, okay?"

Winston and Egon poked their heads out into the hallway. Dana was standing halfway down the hall, her arms outstretched, trying to block Louis, who was loping down the hall with an eerily gleeful expression.

"Move, fleshling," Vinz murmured without losing his vacant smile. "The joining is at hand. We wait for the sign."

"No, Louis." Dana's voice was firm. "Go back downstairs, now." Peter's proton pack was still slung over her shoulders; the yellow tube dangled loosely around her knees.

Vinz didn't speak; his eyes remained fixed ahead of him. One hand darted out like a snake, grabbed Dana's arm, and casually flung her against the opposite wall; she hit hard, gasped, and slid to the floor. Winston bolted from the doorway to pick her up; Louis brushed past him, turned slowly, and paused, as if he were waiting to be invited in. Egon stepped back, eyes darting between Vinz and the meter, which was emitting a high-pitched electronic screech.

"You okay?" Winston asked, scooping Dana back to her feet. The pack had left a dent in the wall.

She found her footing. "I think I'm okay, but Louis - "

Vinz stepped through the doorway as if he were entering a throne room. "I am the Keymaster!" he announced, and thunder roared above them, rattling the windows in their frames.

"I am the Gatekeeper," purred Zuul, turning away from the window and dropping the knife; it stuck in the carpet, point-down. Peter's arms reached for him, and Louis's body rushed forward. Peck emerged from the bedroom just in time to watch them embrace; the color drained from his face as they kissed. A barrage of lightning flashed just beyond the ledge outside.

"We're screwed, aren't we," Ray breathed. Egon nodded, wordless.

"Venkman!" Peck shouted over the thunder. Zuul and Vinz ignored him; they drew away slowly from their passionate embrace, and turned to face the window again, hand in hand. Peck shuddered and shouted again. "Venkman, I don't know what game you're playing at, or what this - this _substance_ is," he said, scraping ectoplasm from his shoes, "but I'm putting an end to it." He raised Dana's bedroom phone to his ear.

"The phone lines are still working?" Winston asked, surprised.

Peck allowed himself a flicker of a smile. "Yes, Carlisle? This is Walter Peck. I found Venkman. Shut it down."

"What?" Egon spun to face the bedroom door.

"The whole thing. No, I don't care what the electrician says, just _shut it off._" Peck jerked his chin at Zuul. "Venkman, your whole little operation is going down."

Egon hit him like a linebacker and yanked the phone from his hand. "Don't! You'll cause - " The sound of a klaxon sounded in the receiver. A female voice screamed "You moron, you'll let them all loose!"

"Janine?" Egon gasped.

"Egon, they flipped the big switch on the containment unit!" their secretary screeched into the receiver.

"Get out. _Get out,_ Janine, now!" Something began to hiss in the background; Egon heard the phone hit her desk and bounce onto the floor before the line went dead. He dropped the receiver next to Peck and turned to the window, counting silently.

A fountain of light, purple and white, leapt into the sky, framed perfectly in Dana's living room window. The sound of the initial explosion hit several seconds later, followed by an unearthly howling. Peck stared; Egon and Ray slumped, their shoulders sagging.

"You unbelievable bastard," Ray mumbled, watching individual sparks of light peel away from the geyser and go spinning off.

"Believe it," Peck sneered, picking himself up.

"That's bad, right?" Winston asked.

"That's the containment unit going up," Ray said blankly.

"That's the sign," whispered Vinz and Zuul in unison. They turned and began walking towards what had once been her kitchen, hands clasped.

"Hey, maybe you shouldn't go," Ray said hastily, shaking off his shock and starting after them. "I mean, there's a dimensional rift going on; it could be dangerous."

Vinz gestured offhandedly. A bolt of blue light jumped from his fingertips and flung Ray back into the wreckage of Dana's sofa. Zuul turned back and waved, fingers curling and uncurling; a wall of flames sprang from floor to ceiling, blocking off the living room from the kitchen. The two guardians tossed aside the refrigerator as if it were an empty box and ascended the stairs behind it, not looking back.

Peck blinked. "What in the hell?" he spat.

Egon turned to him. "You just released approximately two point seven six gigaRhines of psychokinetic energy into an already saturated environment. They're the servants of a demigod; with that much psychic fuel available, they can perform feats we can't even imagine."

"This isn't real," Peck snarled. "You've dosed me with your nerve gas. This is just a hallucination."

"It's my apartment," Dana said, helping Ray back to his feet as he struggled to catch his breath. "I didn't believe in any of this, either, until the thing that's possessing Dr. Venkman appeared in the refrigerator they just threw into the stove, seven weeks ago."

Peck blinked at her, his expression frozen between rage and fear. "You're an accomplice," he hissed.

"No, I just live here. Or I used to." She ran a hand over the back of the sofa; the fibers of the fabric came off on her fingers and crumbled.

\---

The place had been prepared for them long before. Vinz and Zuul gazed across the temple built by the disciple, Shandor, where dozens of ceremonies and sacrifices had paved the way for the summoning of the Traveller. The stone altar stood at the edge of the roof, looking out over the city; the sky above them was nearly night-black now, shot through with lightning.

They raised their hands towards the temple doors. "We have come," they recited in unison, "to this sacred place to lay the offering of flesh upon the altar, that Key and Gate may meet and the Way may be opened to you, O Vulguus Zildrohar, Gozer the Gozerian, the Traveller." A gleam of gold shot across the portal, and they nodded; all was ready.

Carefully, they ascended the altar. Zuul laid his fingers on the collar of Vinz's shirt. "The garments should be removed," he whispered, his voice low and throaty.

"I concur," Vinz replied, his hands sliding in the red and gold fabric of Zuul's shirt. Stripping each other took only a matter of moments, and then the vessels were both naked on Gozer's altar.

Vinz looked down. "Your vessel bears a key as well," he murmured, his own throbbing impatiently with the power to open the doors of reality.

"All human vessels have both keys and gates," Zuul purred reassuringly, laying on his back and drawing his knees up. "This one has performed both roles in its lifetime."

"Oh, okay." Vinz lowered himself carefully over Zuul, and the Key entered the Gate.

The building trembled with the force of their joining.

\---

"What the crap is _that_?" Winston yelled as the walls shuddered. The cracked glass in the windows shattered and fell away.

"They've started the ritual to summon Gozer," Dana said, wondering how she knew that. Dark shapes moved at the corners of her consciousness - some remnant of Zuul, maybe. She tried to ignore them, to focus.

"We've got to stop them!" Ray looked around frantically. "We've got to get up there!"

Egon turned to Dana. "Where's Louis's apartment?"

"Across the hall, but - " Dana found herself speaking to his pack. She jogged after him, with Ray and Winston following and Peck stumbling in the rear.

"The layout's different," Egon noted, standing in Louis's living room amid the wreckage of his party. The smoked salmon was starting to stink. "Where would the mirror reflection of your kitchen be?"

"Here," Winston stated, turning down a short hallway. "There's a linen closet here."

"See if there's a false back," Egon suggested as he came around the corner. The building shook again; a flurry of cracks appeared in the drywall.

Winston yanked out the shelves and tossed them into the bathroom. "I don't see . . . wait a minute, there's a keyhole here." He knelt. "But no knob."

Ray pressed past Egon. "Let me see." He leaned over and peered at it. "Looks like it took an old-style skeleton key. I think I can pick it." He tugged a few pieces of wire from the kit on his belt and began probing at the lock.

A few seconds later, a sharp _click_ announced that he'd succeeded. He pushed at the side of the closet, and the whole panel swung away. A second staircase led upwards as a faint light filtered down.

"Where do these stairs go?" Ray wondered out loud.

"We're going to find out," Dana stated as Egon started climbing.

\---

The ritual finished in a shower of ball lightning; Zuul and Vinz screamed out the ancient words of power as their vessels shuddered and writhed. For a moment, they lay still on the altar, Vinz's vessel bonelessly draped over Zuul's.

Then, without speaking, they slid apart and climbed down from the altar, each headed for the plinth where his statue had gazed out over the city for years. Idly, Zuul's fingers caught at the fabric of the blouse he'd worn, and he shrugged it back on. Vinz caught the motion out of the corner of his eye, shrugged, and did the same with Louis's blue shirt, now stained and torn.

Carefully, they mounted back onto their old pedestals. But now they faced the other way, towards the doors that vibrated with the energy of their mating.

One of the subcreatures climbed out of the stairway - not the one they had used, but the one on the other side. He was followed by others; Vinz smiled vacantly at them. The time of the fleshlings was about to be over; there was no point in torturing them any more.

Zuul didn't even look. He raised his arms above his head, and the blue lightning of a dimensional rip flowed from his fingers.

Vinz did the same, sighing in pleasure as the power flowed through him. His vessel flailed as the energy made it spasm, and somewhere Louis cried out in pain.

Vinz dropped to his hands and knees, and he and Zuul took their proper forms as the doors split open in a blaze of blinding white.

\---

Egon halted at the top of the stairs; Ray nearly walked into him. "What's going on?" Ray asked, watching Egon's adam's apple bob.

Egon gestured and began to creep forward again. As he cleared the top of the staircase, Ray saw Peter and Louis slither off of an altar of concrete and white stone. They were both naked; they shrugged on their shirts as they found their footing on the roof, but neither made any attempt to hide the evidence of what they'd just done.

Ray knew enough about occultism to know what sex magic was. "Uh-oh," he muttered.

"They're _naked,_" Peck gasped from somewhere behind him, as Peter and Louis climbed a pair of pedestals flanking the altar. Bolts of energy, blue and purple and twisting like serpents, jumped from their bodies to a huge pair of temple doors set at the opposite edge of the roof; Peter and Louis writhed, as if they were being electrocuted.

"Is that hurting them?" Winston asked.

Ray nodded slowly. "Probably. Zuul and Vinz don't care if their human vessels are damaged, though." As if on cue, Peter and Louis dropped to their hands and knees, the azure lightning still pouring through them. Their skins darkened, their heads elongated, their shoulders swelled - and suddenly there were two monstrous shapes on the plinths where the two men had been.

The doors began to swing open, and light nearly as bright as the sun shone from within. Egon looked at the meter; it fizzled and went dark. "This is bad," he said quietly.

The three Ghostbusters edged forward, followed by Dana. Peck backed away against one of the spires that edged the roof, as far from the two vaguely canine apparitions as possible.

Behind the doors a long staircase, much longer than the building was, ascended. It ended at a pyramid crafted of crystal, transparent and shimmering. A vaguely female figure wrapped in white light was slowly descending the stairs.

The two guardians jumped from their pedestals and bounded up the stairs to meet their master. The figure reached down and stroked their heads gently, sensuously, as they climbed onto a second pair of plinths at the pyramid's entrance.

"Who's that?" demanded Peck.

"It's Gozer," Egon replied, his voice heavy with resignation.

"I thought Gozer was a man," Winston said sharply.

"It's whatever it chooses to be," Egon explained.

The figure approached the threshold and looked out through eyes like rubies. It was androgynous, but closer to feminine than masculine. It didn't seem to notice the humans standing there.

"Someone should say something," Dana urged.

Ray and Egon exchanged a glance. "We're not officials or anything," Ray said. "I mean, we're not high priests, we're not noblemen, we don't work for the city, state, or federal government . . . "

Something stirred behind Dana. "I do," Peck said, pulling himself upright. He brushed the soot and flecks of ectoplasm off his suit. A strange determination flashed across his features. "I still don't believe this is actually happening, but if it is - what should I say?"

"Tell it to go home. Um, nicely." Ray blinked.

Peck straightened his tie and approached the stairs. His hands trembled slightly at his sides. "Are you Gozer?" he called out, his voice cracking slightly.

The demigod turned its eyes towards him and regarded him as a human might look on an ant. "I AM," she said, in a voice that was harsh and unearthly but definitely female.

Peck cleared his throat. "I'm Walter Peck, a representative of the federal government of the United States of America. As an enforcer of federal laws, I am here to inform you that you are in violation of a number of environmental, immigration, and criminal statutes, and to ask that you leave before we are forced to subject you to severe legal penalties."

She narrowed her eyes slightly. "ARE YOU A GOD?" she asked.

"Yes," Peck said without hesitation.

"THEN KNOW THIS," she announced. "I, GOZER THE GOZERIAN, VULGUUS ZILDROHAR, THE TRAVELLER, HAVE COME TO CLAIM THIS PLANE OF EXISTENCE AS MY OWN. WILL YOU RELINQUISH YOUR CLAIM UPON THIS PLACE, OR SHALL WE DUEL FOR THIS WORLD?"

Peck stepped back. "What will happen if I say yes?" he whispered to Ray. His eyes were white and his hands were shaking harder; this was becoming more real by the second.

"I don't think we have a choice," Ray hissed back. "We're going to have to fight her off."

Peck turned back to Gozer, who was standing unnaturally still. "We will not stand down," he stated. He was inhaling to start the next sentence when she flung a bolt of purple lightning at his chest; he screamed in pain and crumpled like a tissue.

"Yank 'em and fire!" Ray shouted, grabbing his proton thrower and hitting the power switch. Three packs whined to life; three streams shot out and raked through the space where Gozer had been.

She arced gracefully through the air and landed on the altar, the residual energy striking sparks as her feet touched it. "FOOLISH MORTALS," she laughed, "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN? ONE OF MY MINIONS KNOWS YOUR WEAPONS AS WELL AS YOU DO." As they fired again, she raised one hand like a shield, and the proton streams danced away from her, raking across the concrete of the rooftop.

"Oh, we're in deep shit now," Winston groaned.

"Oh, god, Peter wouldn't tell her, would he?" Ray groaned. Pulling his stream, he turned to Egon. "Does Peter actually know how the packs work?"

Egon shook his head. "He doesn't have a grasp of the underlying theory. However, he probably does understand them well enough to allow her to create defenses. The basic idea is very simple; they're functionally just particle throwers." He swallowed. "And he might not have to consciously impart the information; Zuul might be able to read it directly from his brain tissue."

Gozer laughed again and reached upwards; lightning cascaded from the swirl of black clouds, dancing around her arms until she dissolved and disappeared upwards. The clouds roiled, blue lightning shifting to red.

Peck blinked. "Is she gone?"

"I don't think so," Dana murmured. "Wasn't there something about two forms?"

"The Traveller and the Destructor," Egon said. "Vinz was very clear about that."

The two guardians growled contentedly as a gale suddenly swept across the rooftop. Peck grabbed at one of the stone protrusions to keep from being blown off the roof; Winston dove under the altar; Egon, Ray, and Dana threw themselves flat onto the floor.

"SUBCREATURES," Gozer's voice rang out like thunder, "GOZER THE GOZERIAN, VULGUUS ZILDROHAR, THE TRAVELLER, HAS COME. CHOOSE AND PERISH."

"Choose?" asked Winston. "Choose what?"

"CHOOSE THE FORM OF THE DESTRUCTOR," came the answer.

"What is she talking about?" Peck demanded.

Ray pushed himself to his hands and knees. "I don't know," he said, slowly. He sounded like he was in shock.

"I suspect," Egon said as he crawled over to where Ray was, "that she's asking us to select the image she'll wear in her monstrous form as the destroyer of Earth."

"Clear your minds!" Dana shouted. "I remember - whatever you think, that's what she'll turn into!"

"THE CHOICE IS MADE," echoed the voice above them. The lightning-glow faded.

"I didn't choose anything!" Winston shouted to the clouds. He looked around. "Did you?"

"My mind was blank," Egon asserted.

"Not me," Ray whimpered. "I couldn't think of anything right now even if I wanted to." He looked as if he were about to break down in tears.

A noise like a landslide thundered down Central Park West. Winston and Dana turned on Peck. "Was it you?" they demanded.

"I don't - " Peck started, but another cacophony interrupted him. A shape, a hundred feet tall or more, was moving between the buildings; glass shattered in the distance.

"What in the hell?" growled Winston, leaning over the edge of the roof.

Between two buildings stepped a giant version of Walter Peck, suit neatly pressed, clutching a briefcase the size of four city buses. It looked around, and began very carefully stomping directly on the cars trying to scatter around its feet.

Dana took two steps towards Peck, another surge of fury rising in her throat. "You _narcissist_."

Peck was stunned into silence; he stared at the gigantic version of himself numbly, his mouth half-open.

"What now?" Winston turned to the two scientists. Egon and Ray both shook their heads. "This is out of our expertise," Ray mumbled.

The giant Peck continued down the street towards them, stopping occasionally to pick up a bus and drop it again or to swipe at a glass-skinned building with its briefcase.

"It's possible," Egon started, "that if we change the frequency of the streams, this form might not be able to block them immediately. Gozer must be expending a significant amount of energy keeping that form from collapsing under its own weight."

"It's worth a try if it's all we've got," Ray sighed, flipping open the top panel on his thrower.

Dana unhooked the thrower from Peter's pack. "This one, too," she said, holding it out.

"But you've never fired one before," Ray protested.

Dana's mouth was a hard line. "I'll figure it out. It's not as though we're going to be worried about property damage if this doesn't work."

Ray chewed on his bottom lip. "Fair enough," he admitted.

"Hurry," Egon said, flipping his own panel closed and starting on Winston's. "It'll be here in three point two minutes."

The Peck-monster paused at the foot of the building. Its huge Armani loafer came down once, hard, on top of Ecto-1.

"You fiend!" Ray wailed.

"We'll avenge her later, Ray," Winston assured him. "Just finish with the thrower."

The four of them lined up at the edge of the roof. "Wait until he's in range," Egon warned. "We'll probably only get one good shot."

The giant gripped the edge of the building, decorative concrete and bits of mortar crumbling away under his hands, and began to climb. A hail of debris cracked the windshields of the few cars that had escaped being stomped flat.

"Wait . . . wait, " Egon warned. Dana steadied the thrower on the edge of the roof as Winston jockeyed for a better angle.

"Now!" Egon shouted as the Peck-beast's head came up level with what had once been Dana's apartment. The streams raked across its beard and chest; it roared, a gout of flame rising from its throat. Skin and suit peeled away where the streams hit, revealing pulsing energy and unearthly sinews underneath. A dark ichor dripped from the wounds, staining the pavement and melting asphalt where it landed.

"Keep firing until it learns to shield it!" Ray shouted, fighting his bucking stream. Dana shoved the thrower back and forth; she couldn't hold it still, but she could at least sort of control how it moved.

A grinning, inhuman skull on a pillar of flame looked up at them, as the last of the skin on the giant's head burned away. The monster kept climbing.

A sudden flurry of splintered brick warned them that Gozer had once again learned to shield itself. "Shut 'em!" Ray called as the beams began to scatter away again. They killed the streams and backed away from the edge. "Now what?" Winston asked.

"Now, I think we probably die," Ray murmured, slowly sinking to his knees. He looked awake, still, but he wasn't focusing.

"Wait!" Egon's eyes widened with a sudden burst of inspiration. "The door swings both ways. If we can reverse the polarity of the gateway, it'll send Gozer back to her dimension of origin."

"How do we do that?" Winston asked. He hadn't followed that, but he didn't have to know what it meant to do it.

Egon looked grim. "We'll cross the streams."

"Cross the streams," Ray moaned from the floor. "We're definitely going to die."

"Not necessarily." Egon looked down at Ray sympathetically. "There's a _small_ chance of survival."

"And none if we don't do something," Winston said as a hand the size of a taxicab slammed down on the edge of the roof.

"But what about Peter?" Dana asked.

Ray shook his head, a picture of misery. "It'll kill him. But I'd guess he'd rather be dead than be Zuul's meat-puppet." He flinched as the beast's other hand came down. "I don't think we have time, Egon."

"Wait." Peck drew himself up to his full height. "I'll buy you a few minutes." He turned away from the temple, jaw set.

"What?" Dana said, but Egon pulled her towards the gate. "Come on, we're going to need all four packs," he urged, as Winston hauled Ray back to his feet.

Peck climbed up onto the altar as they lined up in front of the temple threshold. The two guardians snarled and roared, but they stayed on their plinths as if they were bound there.

The fleshless skull reared over the edge of the roof. Peck turned to face it. "Hold it right there!" he screamed, pointing one finger.

The giant paused, turning slowly towards him.

"First of all, you've got a lot of nerve taking _my_ face!" Peck continued at the top of his lungs. "Secondly, you're creating an environmental incident of mind-boggling proportions!"

The Peck-monster made a low, rhythmic rumbling sound that might have been laughter.

Ray lit his stream, aiming it at the pyramid in the distance. Or was it so far away? Perspective was impossible to judge through the gate. "One down, Spengler!"

"And third, you're a lousy deity if you - " Peck was cut off by a giant hand crashing down. He didn't have time to scream; he barely gasped before it crushed him onto the altar. A trickle of blood oozed down the white stone.

Dana whimpered but held her place. Egon fired, and brought his stream up next to Ray's. "Fire three and four!" he shouted over the crackle of the streams, as the crossed streams bucked and writhed like a crocodile.

Dana and Winston fired, and added their streams to the first two as the gargantuan bureaucrat pulled itself over the edge of the roof, roaring. The streams churned; eddies of force poured off of them and were absorbed by the gate. The pyramid flashed, white-orange light filling their field of view. Something exploded in a shower of sparks, and the roof began to wobble like a rubber sheet.

"Hold 'em, hold 'em!" Ray shouted from somewhere that wasn't exactly _here_, or maybe it wasn't quite _now_. The fleshless skull gaped as the light pouring through the gate became too bright to see, and someone - no, two someones, two voices - screamed. The gate rippled and burst like a balloon, and suddenly everything was dark again.

\---

"Spengler? Are you okay?" Ray was shouting again. Dana opened her eyes and immediately regretted it.

The doors were gone, but so was the crystal pyramid. Beyond the doorway was a fragment of the staircase, and then the drop of the other side of the building. The entire rooftop was covered in a dark red, tarry, steaming mess that smelled like blood and acid. Her clothes and hair were splattered with it, and her skin stung where it was smeared on her.

"Ray?" she called. Immediately, he was at her side. "Ms. Barrett, are you all right?" He helped her out of her pack as she scrambled to her feet. She wondered, briefly, whether she should be helping him instead - he was paler than was healthy.

"Ugh." That was Egon's voice. He pushed himself to his hands and knees, coughing and spitting. "Raymond?"

"I'm here, Egon." Ray rushed over to help him up.

"Is Peck - " Egon started.

"Dead," Winston said dully. "Gozer crushed his skull and ribcage. Good thing is, he probably went quickly - I don't think he suffered."

Dana glanced at the broken altar. "One last sacrifice," she realized aloud. Peck's body was barely recognizable. She turned away and vomited; fortunately, she hadn't eaten much in the last day, so there wasn't much to bring up.

"Oh, man," Winston whispered. Ray and Dana followed his gaze; two carbonaceous lumps, roughly in the shape of Gozer's guardian-beasts, were still on the second set of pedestals.

Ray stumbled forward. "Oh, Peter," he whispered miserably. "Oh, god, Peter, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry . . . "

"Ray," Dana said, as her stomach lurched again. Something wet rolled down one cheek, and then she was sobbing hysterically and stumbling. Winston caught her and put her head on his shoulder, patting her on the back, but he looked bewildered himself.

Egon's face was utterly blank, a marble mask. He stared past Ray at the charred corpse as if analyzing it sufficiently would undo it.

"I'm sorry," Ray sobbed again, reaching out to touch the husk. As soon as his hand brushed it, it flaked; as he withdrew it in shock, the whole thing began to crumble to ash. Ray shrieked inarticulately and clutched at the decomposing cinders, but they turned to powder in his hands.

"Louis," Dana gasped. She reached for the other shell; as soon as she touched it, it collapsed in on itself.

Egon stepped carefully over the bloody gobbets and stared at the ash-pile that had once been Peter. Carefully, he reached in and removed a rag of red-and-gold fabric. He stared at it, his eyes tracking the weave of the fabric, as if there were some mystery written there.

"That's the shirt Peter was wearing," Ray whimpered.

Winston fished through the other heap. "And here's the blue one Louis had on," he announced.

"What does that mean?" Dana wondered.

"They're gone," Egon said robotically.

The sky above them was clearing; already the clouds were gray instead of black, and the spiral was distorted and ragged in the breeze off the harbor. A battalion of sirens began to wail in the distance.

\---

Gozer reclined on her throne of frozen flame. "I AM GRAVELY DISAPPOINTED," she crooned, her hands busily stroking her minions' heads.

"We're so sorry, mistress," Vinz whined, groveling at her feet.

She stroked his back gently. "IT WAS NOT WASTED," she admitted. She shifted to the other side and rubbed Zuul's belly. "YOU HAVE LEARNED MUCH, AS HAVE I."

"We can find another Shandor," Zuul wheedled. Vinz nodded in agreement, his limbs tangling with Zuul's. They curled around each other and purred.

"WE WILL," Gozer agreed. "AND YOUR NEW FORMS WILL MAKE TEACHING THE CULT MUCH EASIER."

"The temple will be rebuilt," said Louis's mouth.

"This world will fall," agreed Peter's voice.

"THE KEY AND THE GATE SHALL OPEN THE PATH AGAIN," Gozer finished, stroking her guardians' new bodies, pale and soft. They cooed and rubbed against her legs. "SOON. VERY SOON."


End file.
